Google can be sued over autocomplete that links businessman to mafia, judge rules

Hong Kong tycoon Albert Yeung has a received a Chinese court’s approval to sue Google Inc. over autocomplete search results suggesting a link between him and organized crime, according to the Associated Press.

Yeung filed suit following Mountain View-based Google’s refusal to remove the autocomplete suggestions, which paired the businessman's name with “triad,” a term that refers to Chinese transnational organized crime groups. Yeung's entertainment company manages some of the biggest names in Hong Kong show business.

A Chinese judge issued a ruling in favor of Yeung that disagreed with Google's lawyers, who had argued that his requests for removal should have been directed to the websites where the defamatory information was published, reported the AP.

"Any risk of misinformation can spread easily as users forage in the web. The art is to find the comfortable equilibrium in between," said the judge, according to the AP.